IBM Medicare Advantage Enrollment Directive for 2023

 Edited on 9/18/2022:

Yesterday, IBM had two major announcements for retiree benefits.  The US retiree pension fund that supports 100,000 retirees are now annuities administered by Prudential and MetLife.  The payout will be the same, but the federal protections are gone.  There is no ERISA oversight for annuities, meaning there are no federal guarantees we will get our payouts for the rest of our lives. I am sort of surprised because I thought IBM "made money" when the pension was overfunded.  Maybe the rocky stock market helped them decide they didn't need the risk of having to fund the pension if it was under funded and if the annuities go bust, well that's not their problem.  Anyway, if you haven't seen anything about it, this link does a good job describing it:

https://www.pionline.com/pension-risk-transfer/ibm-offloads-16-billion-pension-liabilities-annuity-purchases

This was a big shock but the other big shock is what happens to our HRA funding.  In 2023, you will only get HRA funding  $1,300 only if you enroll into one of the two Medicare Advantage plans structured for IBM by United Health Care. You must pick the "basic" Medicare Advantage plan and funding will only cover you copays.  For those of us in Original Medicare with a Medicare Supplement, we get NO money if we want to continue in that structure.  

This is dreadful for a couple of reasons.  First and foremost, United Health Care is a miserable company.  They are all about making life as difficult as possible both for providers and policy holders.  They require pre-approvals on almost anything that is costly such as surgical procedures, DME or prosthetics. They second guess doctor recommended procedures and won't pre-approve treatment. They control the prosthetics that can be used for things such as knee replacements, they require referrals any time you want to see a specialist. Most importantly, they deny, deny, deny, full well knowing people will give up and not get a procedure if it is a pre-approval or pay a claim if the service has been delivered and then denied because appealing a denial is complicated.  Even if you do the appeal right, they somehow manage to screw up the process and will make you crazy until you appeal 2 or 3 times.

How do I know? I have been advising people about Medicare and how to handle denials and appeals for many years.  UHC screws up everything. Don't even bother to try to call them if you have a problem.  They will spin you in circles. You must do written appeals and file written grievances to get their attention.  I don't know if is on purpose or as a way to get providers and/or policy holders to give up and go away. I bet it is on purpose.

Why force us onto a Medicare Advantage plan, and the one that has less benefit?  A guess. Maybe we are not croaking fast enough and IBM is tired of providing HRA funding.  It will essentially eliminate the medical benefit for retires without having to announce that they are breaking a promise.  UHC probably gets some money for each policy sold and then controls the amount of services people get so retirees won't go through the full stipend.  Many Medicare Advantage plans make money strictly from the federal government and have a zero premium and very low copays but they also control access to medical services so maybe IBM doesn't even have to give UHC money. Want the latest cancer treatment? So sorry. You wanted a pace maker? Your doctor didn't make a good enough case for it. Denied. Getting something like $200 a pop from IBM for each MA plan sold is not chump change to UHC who likely promises to dramatically cut IBM cost because UHC will control access to medical services thereby limiting the reimbursements. 

I am sad.  I never thought IBM would get to this.  I understand why they wanted to get out of managing a pension or managing health insurance policies. It is ancillary to their business.  I initially wasn't happy about losing the insurance IBM provided before 2013 (which was fabulous) and being pushed to Via Benefits but, at least it gave me choices.  It is a low blow to force all Medical eligible retirees into Medicare Advantage plans and a really low blow that the company providing the policies is United Health Care. Even Humana is a better company!!!  Really, a low blow.  It means retirees will get sub-par medical treatment because of a dodgy insurance company that is only interested in making money and could care less about the well being of policy holders.  The IBM company executives don't care either.  They need to squeeze every penny out of piddling programs to pay their fabulous executive bonuses.  Sad. Really sad.

Do you remember when we were told our retiree benefits were "part of our salaries"? IBM told us not to quit and go to other companies that paid better salaries that didn't offer those benefits because, when factored in, IBM's salary was better! I wish I had that documentation. The company is basically stealing our earned income.  Isn't that illegal?